Friday, February 28, 2014

Sleepwalking, Fevers, and Crying Babies

By:Annie Chamovitz

From: The Cumberland Creek Mystery Series

Author: Mollie Cox Bryan

Book 3 Title: Death of an Irish

We’ve all been very worried about Vera. She’s
sleepwalking these days. Evidently, when she was a girl, she used to sleep walk
a great deal, especially when she was upset of stress about something. She’s
awakened once at the kitchen sink and had cut herself with a knife and another
time she awoke next to her daughter’s bed, with her crying, scared, and
feverish. She told me that the first thing she remembered was her cold feet.

Vera went on to
tell me more:

Suddenly, she was holding Elizabeth—how
had she gotten there? Lizzie looked up her with red and contorted face, wet
with tears, as if she had been sobbing for quite some time. “Mama?”

Vera sat down in the rocking chair and
wrapped her arms around Lizzie. “Shhhhh, baby. It’s okay…”

But Vera wasn’t sure that it was.

She glanced out the window, saw the
shadows of the old fire escape there. She really wanted to have that thing
removed.Why was the window open?
Had she forgotten to close it? Or had she just opened it?

She peered out at the indigo blue sky;
the full orange moon was still there. The wall glowed with the dusky blue
light. The princess clock in the corner said it was 4 a.m.

How had she gotten into this room and
not remembered it? How long had she been here? And what was going on with her
daughter?

She brushed Lizzie’s hair off her
forehead. Calmer now, Lizzie’s sobs quieted, but the child burned with fever. She didn’t look
right,
not at all, and Vera was certain it wasn’t just because she had been crying.

Turned out the Vera was right.
Elizabeth had the flu and it was a good thing she’d taken her to the emergency
room. Vera is started to worry about herself, what she’s up to during her night
walks. I think it must be very scary to awaken and not know how you’ve gotten
there, don’t you?

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